Title: Home Is Where The Heart Is

Author: [redacted]

My Giftee: higashinoumi

Rating: PG12

Wordcount: 8168

Warnings: fantasy violence in the beginning

Author's note: Hello higashinoumi~
Happy holidays! I'm really sorry for being so late. I hope you celebrated well and had an amazing start in 2016. Your prompt was really nice to work on. I enjoyed writing it so much. I hope you like it too. It was a bit hard through to find a storyline but I'm happy with the result. Hopefully you are too.
Have fun reading~

PS: Sorry for not including the curse word you wanted in my language... I honestly don't really know how to translate it. My friends and I believe that there is no specific word for it. so... I gladly teach you another one after the reveal if you like ^^
 

Home Is Where The Heart Is

~ Summer in Rebbur, capital of the world Astrin ~

Hastily jinked HyukJae aside to avoid a fire arrow that was aimed at him. As soon as the blue-haired elf had dodged the fast pacing arrow followed the next dangerous shot that was supposed to bring him death. Once again dodged the little elf and started looking for a good spot to hide. Not that he intended to hide for the rest of the fight. No! He needed to find a place to take a short rest, to make a plan for the counter-attack and perhaps to find a way to overthrow the king of Astrin. Only then the so much needed and wanted balance would finally be restored again.

In the corner of his eye he spotted a small gap in a decayed wall of a farmhouse. The gap seemed just big enough to fit a thumb-sized creature and offer it protection. A creature like him. With powerful s of his butterfly-like wings sped the elf off to reach the gap before any of his opponents would notice his intentions. Dozens of arrows crossed his way. With great difficulty he dodged each of these deathly shots and reached his desired goal only a few seconds later.

As soon as the the elf had firm ground under his feet again, he turned around. His eyes wandered over the battlefield in front of him. Each Elf, no matter what element he or she belonged to, had come to help. However, the little creatures weren't alone. The ghosts, who belonged to this world longer than any known creature and the angels of Eden had joined the battle against the human king. HyukJae knew that even more had wanted to join the battle and he hoped they would arrive at the battlefield soon as every fighting hand was desperately needed. He especially hoped to see the dark wings of the dragons in the clear sky above him but so far not even one was in sight.

The people against whom they were fighting did their best to protect their country and their king. With swords, bows and arrows, as well as other stitch and firearms did they fight against those who they once called their allies or even friends. However, not only their self-made weapons brought them a victory or two. The birth-given gifts from elves, which were clairvoyance, the possibility to transform into other creatures, hovering and telekinesis, were also used against their enemies. It hurt to see the elf as the gifts they once had given to the people of this country was used against them.

A fire arrow hit the wall of the former farmhouse. The arrow got stuck high above the small gap. It's flames easily reached the roof which was build out of straw. Without much hesitation called the little elf his element, which is water to his help and put the fire out . As soon as he had extinguished the flames, he felt how a strong, dirty hand wrapped itself around his petite body and lifted him up.

"Gotcha!", cried a shabby-looking man with a broad grin on his face.
HyukJae tried to free himself from the grip of the stranger, but he didn't had enough power in his small arms to loosen even one of his cold stubby fingers. Determined looked the elf the human in the eye, while he called the surrounding water for help.

A huge ball of water was soon hovering over the head of the stranger. Just when the elf had wanted to drop the ball, was a fireball shot towards them. The small fireball hit the man directly on the cheek and brushed his sparsely covered arms. Yowling loosened the shabby man his grip around HyukJae. Immediately took the blue-haired Elf the opportunity and flew away. As soon as he was a few feet away from his attacker he ordered his still unused ball of water to whiz down and hit the man. When the ball hit his attacker's head, he slumped down to the ground.

"That was a near thing. You should be careful! The next time there might be no one around to help you out", he heard an all to familiar voice say next to him.
HyukJae nodded and turned around to face his best friend, a fire elf.
"I had the situation under control", the water elf sullenly said, even through he knew perfectly well that the previous situation could have ended completely different if his friend wouldn't have stepped in to save him. The red-haired elf sceptically raised his brows. Shortly after he gave HyukJae a faint smile before his face darkened again while his eyes landed on the battlefield under them.

Both elves shared some short but resolute glances before they plunged in depth.
"For Astrin!", both jelled with loud booming voices and began to help their allies.
The two elves fought side by side and were able to proceed further to the front. They didn't have weapons like the people did, but their elements were able to cause just as much damage as the said articles of wood and metal.

HyukJae just fended off a dangerous hit of a grim looking man as he felt how something or rather someone fell against him and made him tumble to the ground. Once he hit the cold hard ground he turned around and saw his friend. His red-haired friend had a bad gash across his torso. Laboriously rang the little elf for breath.

"Hyung!", cried HyukJae.
In panic erected the blue-haired elf a magical barrier of water and tried to find a way to help his friend but before he could even use a tiny bit of his magic, made his friend a slight movement with his hand and stopped him from doing so.

"Promise me that you'll protect our country. Do not waste your strength on a dying elf like me. I do not fear death", the fire elf said with a weak voice.
Tears gathered in HyukJae's eyes. He wanted to gainsay his friend, but when he looked into his eyes, he knew he had no chance against the strong will of the red-haired. Not verbally.
Immediately started HyukJae to mumble a few words which let healing water appear. The slight silver water like tincture lay itself on the wound of his friend and immediately started to do what it was called for.

“I won't let you go that easily”, said HyukJae and embraced his friend shortly.
The red-haired looked up at his friend with tears in his eyes. A small smile appeared on his face. His hand clenched the blue haired's cloth weakly to get his friends full attention.
“Go get them, Tiger!”, cheered the red haired his friend on to which HyukJae shortly nodded.
Carefully lay the young water elf his friend on the ground and started to build another wall out of water to protect his friends body from taking further damage. Determined looked the blue haired up to the castle. Anger spread through his entire body.

HyukJae had just let the first wall of water disappear as a glittering light spread across the battlefield and the combatants halted for a short moment.
On a balcony of the palace appeared a man. His wasn't very big and muscular and he wasn't particularly handsome too, but a certain power and authority could be sensed by the mere look at him. A slight shiver ran through the little elf as his eyes fell on the man. Even through there was quite some distance between them he could sense the evil soul this man had. The coldness that suddenly over came him made him shiver.

"You dare to attack me? Me? Your king? You will now get to know the consequences it has to cross your blade with mine. I hereby banish the elves, the leader of this uprising, out of this world into one where one of their kind isn't believed in. This is my will", said the king while rising his royal rod and let it hit hard against the floor.

A pressure wave spread from the point the rod met the ground to the battlefield. A strong wind came with the wave and let the light and small things whirl through the air. The impact of the wave was so strong that HyukJae was thrown backwards and his head slammed into something hard. The eyelids of the elf suddenly became very heavy and soon he was consumed by darkness.

~ A few months later in Switzerland, Planet Earth ~

Small cursing escaped DongHae's lips while he stomped through the forest. One thing was for sure; This wasn't the kind of holiday he had wanted. When he had rented a small mountain chalet in Switzerland more than five months ago, he imagined to have a relaxing time in a quiet area with a great view and absolute fresh air. You know, the things you kinda expect when you are planing to have a holiday in the mountains. Well... he did have a great view and the air is really fresh too. He couldn't complain about that. It was something else that bothered him. Something, he can only blame himself for it. If he wouldn't have told his three best friends about this trip, they wouldn't have been able to run to the next travel agency and buy tickets to Switzerland as well.

To not get him wrong, he liked his friends very much but he would have preferred to make this adventure alone. Not only had he wanted to finish writing his newest book during his stay, he also wanted to prove to himself that he was able to survive on his own for an entire week. The chalet seemed to be perfect for that. Or so he thought. Sadly he wasn't able to do any of these things now.

He was walking through the seemingly untouched forest. Carefully he set one step after the other to avoid falling over a root of a tree or something. The wind whirled through the brown leaves that were mostly laying on the ground. It felt like fall but it was in fact winter in Switzerland. Sadly it hadn't been cold enough for snow yet. It saddened the dark haired man a little that there was no snow in the end of December. Wasn't Switzerland famous for it's snowy landscape?

Every now and then he picked up some twigs and branches and put them on an old sledge as he needed them to keep the chalet warm. The small chalet didn't have any electrically which meant that the four young men had to gather enough wood as they needed it for heating the house and cooking their meals. This was something all of them were struggling with. Especially the youngest of the group didn't seem to be able to really get used to the situation. Again and again he began to complain about the empty battery of his computer and that he wasn't able to play his precious video game anymore.

A loud sigh escaped his throat when he picked up a big branch and put it to the other branches and twigs on his sledge. The dark-haired young man just wanted to continue his way through the forest when something shiny caught his eyes. Only a few meters on the ground away from him was something beautifully sparkling in the late evening sun. Could it be that he had found the nest of a magpie? He had heard that these cheeky birds would steal almost anything. Especially objects that glitter and twinkle seem to be to their liking. Who knows, maybe he would find something valuable. Curiosity overcame the young writer and so he decided to get closer to the thing to see what it was.

With careful and slow steps he got closer and closer the sparkling thing. When he was only a few steps away from it he stopped and looked around in confusion. He could see no jewellery or something like that on the ground. The thing no longer seems to sparkle. At least not as strongly as before. Had he only imagined it?

He was about to get back to his sledge and leave as a quiet, gentle ringing tone came to his ears. Confused he looked around. The noise seemed to come from the direction where he had suspected the treasure to be at earlier. Hesitantly he took the last few steps toward the place in front of him and bend down to be able to take a closer look at the ground. At first there seemed to be nothing unusual there. Leaves covered the entire ground and some fir corns were laying around. However, there was no shining object in sight.

With the thought in mind to have waisted his time in the cold, began DongHae to straight up. Only a few seconds later he heard that beautiful sound again. It seemed to be right in front of him. Right there, where he had suspected it to be before. However, there still was nothing there. When he took a closer looked at the ground, he realized that the leaves near the roots of the tree were slightly raised and lowered. The dark-haired man swallowed, gathered all his courage and pushed the heaving leaves aside. He expected to see beetles and spiders hiding under the leaves but what he found instead surprised him. There was a thumb-sized creatures laying on the cold ground.

His eyes wandered over the petite figure in front of him. The shape of this creature looked quite human. Even his face, which was framed by snow-white hair, looked human. Brown slightly tattered fabric dressed the little man a front of him. On his back were small elegant-looking wings that gorgeously started to shimmer as soon as rays of the evening sun met them.

Wouldn't the little chest of the creature have risen and fallen, would DongHae have betted that this must be some kind of rare collector figure. But it didn't seem to be.
Only gradually DongHae began to understand what he saw in front of him; A male elf.

During his research for his latest book he had often seen pictures of these creatures. Since his earlies stages of his childhood had he been fascinated by the tales and legends of mythical creatures. Secretly, he always had hoped that a wonderful world full of elves, werewolves, angels and dragons would really exist. His love for mysterious creatures and fantastic worlds were one of the many reasons why he had become an author. Often he had imagined how it would be like to actually meet one of these creatures he loved so much. However, now that one of these beings actually lay in front of him, he began to doubt his sanity.

The young author pluck up his courage and prodded the small elf slightly. He expected that it would move or wake up, but that was not the case. Again he touched the elf briefly with his index finger, yet again it didn't move. When he touched the elf for the second time he noticed how cold it's skin was.

"Oh no!", he cried in horror, gently lifted the little elf up and held it close to his body to provide it with warmth. For a while he just sat there and tried to warm the dainty little thing, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

The thoughts of the young man were racing. He wished to know how he could help the small creature. Or was it normal for elves to be this cold when a human touches them? Definitely not. He never read anything about that. On the other hand, no one ever met an elf before. How were his wise books to know if this was normal or not.
Gently he laid the elf back to the ground and looked at him anxiously. Somehow it must be possible to help the poor thing.
His mind went through all the stories of the many books and movies with elves that he had read respectively watched as a child. Then he had a brilliant idea: Peter Pan!
Wasn't there a scene where Tinkerbell almost died and Peter saved her by clapping and saying that he believes in fairies. Maybe this will work here too.

"I do believe in fairies! I do! I do! I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!", he shouted, and violently clapped in his hands.
Hopefully he looked down at the elf, but he still didn't seem to want to wake up. Again DongHae began to chant his previous words loudly while clapping wildly in the hands. After an eternity, so it seemed to the author, the slight figure began to move.

"What the hell?", he heard a slightly annoyed but weak voice of a man.
The elf seemed to have woken up from his sleep.
A broad smile crept onto the face of the author as he watched the little creature. Sleepily rubbed the delicate elf his eyes and yawned amply. It didn't take long until the still sleepy eyes of the elf met the ones of the young author. The facial expression of the elf darkened abruptly.

"Go away!", the elf hissed and tried to get on his legs, but his limbs were stiff from the cold weather and he wasn't able to do so. It also seemed as if he was lacking in strength to actually get on his feet. With much effort flapped the white-haired elf his wings, but besides a bright and beautiful ring nothing happened. The elf wasn't even able to get one or two millimetre off the ground.

"Damn it! What did you do, human?”, the elf cried in panic.
"I did nothing but save your life", DongHae said amazed by the rudeness of the little creature.
"You should have let me die!", the elf yelled while tears started to appear in his eyes.
DongHae shook his head violently and watched how the tears started to run down on the elf's cheek. Slowly, he reached his hand out to lift the little creature up again as he wanted to shelter it in his jacket form the cold wind that started to blow through the woods. He only had wanted to help the elf, shelter him from the wind and warm him a little, but the white haired didn't seem to want DongHae's help as he started to angrily hiss at him

"Don't you dare to touch me with your filthy hands, human. Your kind has already done enough damage", the elf hissed.
"I just want to help. You are cold. There is a small chalet near by. My friends and I rented it. It's warm there and we have plenty of food to feed you. Please, let me help you”, the author begged but the angry look that the elf threw at him said enough.

DongHae sighted loudly and sat cross-legged on the floor and began to study the elf's odd behaviour. The later was trying to get up on his feet. His face clearly showed how much trouble he had doing this simple task. Although he tried hard to finally stand gravity proved to be merciless as it pulled the little creature right back and made him fall. Again and again buckled his weak legs under him and he landed once again on the cold hard ground. Finally, after about forty attempts he was standing haughtily on his feet. Proud to have finally made it, he just wanted to take a step forward, but as soon as he had raised one of his legs slightly, began the other to tremble dangerously. Before the elf once again fell with full force on the ground came DongHae to his aid and prevented another painful impact.

The elf immediately clung himself to the hand, which was offered to him and let out a sigh of relief. Only a few moments later the elf seemed to understand what just had happened. Surprised, he looked up at DongHae and took a closer look at the strange human.

"Why are you doing this?", the white-haired elf asked in a low tone of voice.
"What do you mean?", DongHae asked, who almost hadn't heard the words the elf just said.
"Why are you helping me? Why do you want me to live? The human I know are heartless, ignorant and / or despise me and my kind. So, why aren't you like them?"

DongHae blinked.
"I always liked elves. When I was a child I often read stories about them. I've always wished to see your kind at least once in my life. Although you were a bit rude just now it didn't lessen my fascination. I don't know who gave you such a hard time and made you suffer so much that you hate humans and distrust me, even through we only just met, but I can assure you that I'm not a bad person. I want to help you", the author said, gently put the elf on his left palm of hand and raised it to bring him up to his eye level.

The elf didn't protest and let himself be lifted by DongHae. Curiosity sparkled in his eyes when he looked into the author's eyes and cocked his head thoughtfully.
"You're weird!", the elf finally stated while leaning himself back so his back met the slightly curved fingers of the dark-haired authors. A shudder went through the little creature; a sign that he must be having cold. Carefully let DongHae his hand with the elf on it slid into his jacket pocket, hoping that this small space would offer the trembling creature enough heat until they would reach the chalet.

"I'll take you to my place. We need to warm you up as soon as possible. By the way, I'm DongHae. What's your name?", DongHae asked curiously.
For a long time he received no answer from the elf. Only when they reached the half full sledge found a few weakly spoken words of the elf their way to his ears.

"They call me HyukJae"

*******************

With a plate deliciously cooked tepid pasta on a tomato sauce in hand, climbed DongHae the narrow wooden stairs to the first floor. As his friends had gone to sleep over an hour ago, he tried to continue his way to his room as quietly as possible. However, the old house really didn't make this task an easy one to accomplish as the floorboards creaked loudly under his feet when he stepped on it.

When he finally arrived at the door that lead to his room, he slowly cracked it open and peered inside. Everything seemed quiet and unchanged. It almost seemed as if it his room was empty. Only when his eyes landed on the small ancient looking tile stove that stood on the other side of the room he realized that the room wasn't empty.

The fire crackled in the tile stove and filled the small, comfy room with a cosy warmth. On the tile stove's surface, which was meant to sit on, was a thin wool blanket spread out on which lay one of his soft pillows. On that pillow was a white T-shirt laid-out, which covered the strangest and most interesting being the DongHae had ever seen. The young author would have loved to learn more about the petite elf, but as soon as he had prepared the warm and cosy bed for him he had fallen into a deep sleep.

With a gentle smile on his face closed DongHae the door behind him and went straight to the elf that was called HyukJae. Carefully, he sat down next to him on the tile stove and watched how the most beautiful creature was sleeping peacefully. The small hands of the elf were tightly clasped around the thin fabric of the t-shirt and were pulled as close as possible to his body. Due to the cold had the elf carefully covered every part of his body with the T-shirt. Only his head was sticking out under the fabric. HyukJae was breathing slow and calmly. He seemed extremely peaceful at that moment.

The faint blue hair of the elf caught DongHae's eyes instantly. As far as he could remember had the elf's hair been white when he had found him. Or had he been wrong about this? Had the sun deceived him? This could be possible. The hair wasn't coloured in a particularly strong blue and could therefore have looked as if they were all white when he had found him.

Suddenly began the nose of the elf to tremble. It seemed as if he was sniffing something. A low growl could be heard in the room all of a sudden which made DongHae grin wildly. The elf abruptly turned to his other side and tightly cupped his stomach with his arms. HyukJae's nose was in a direct line to the the stunning smell of tomato sauce now which caused another angry growl of his empty stomach.

Slowly opened HyukJae his eyes and looked up at DongHae. Startled, he hastily pulled the white fabric up to his nose and stared at the author with big eyes.
"Did you sleep well?", DongHae asked and noticed how the elf nodded hesitantly.
Carefully peered the elf's eyes to the amazing smelling dish which DongHae still held in his hands and sniffed briefly. HyukJae's stomach began to rumble again, but this time even louder than before. Shyly looked the elf away and clasped his stomach a little harder.

"Are you hungry? I brought this for you as I assumed that you must be starving", DongHae said while smiling widely. He shortly lifted the plate to show the elf what was laying on it. With big eyes looked HyukJae at the noodles before he raised them once again to looked up at DongHae. A faint smile crept on HyukJae's face before he slowly sat up.

DongHae put the plate between himself and the pillows down and watched with great interest what HyukJae would do next. It didn't take long until HyukJae freed himself from the protective blanket and laboriously walked on the soft pillow to the origin of the good smell. It was only when he arrived at the edge of the pillow when he spread his wings and fluttered like a beautiful butterfly to the plate. Each wing flap made a gentle bell-sound.

Skilfully landed HyukJae on the edge of the plate and looked at the huge amount of pasta and tomato sauce in front of him with a happy smile on his face.
"Is this really for me?", HyukJae asked in a sceptic but hopeful tone of voice while once again looking up at DongHae.
The author nodded and told him to dig in. This wasn't something that must be said twice. Immediately grabbed the elf a nearby piece of pasta and began to eat it. With consumption began the blue-haired elf to eat and smiled happily.

Blissfully watched DongHae how HyukJae ate one piece after the other. When the latter noticed the stares of the human did he briefly stopped eating and looked up at him. Slowly lifted the elf the noodle he currently held in his hand, as if the wanted to offer the author a bit of his meal. Happily smiling declined DongHae the kind offer, which caused the elf to his head cutely for a short moment, however, soon after he continued to enjoy his feast.

"You must have been very hungry", DongHae suddenly stated whereupon HyukJae nodded vigorously. The elf told the author that it had been hard to find anything to eat during the past few months. Thoughtfully nodded DongHae but once he looked at HyukJae again he couldn't help but grin at the adorable sight he had.
As the noodles were quite big for the elf it was unavoidable to finish this meal with a dirty face. Red sauce was smeared all over HyukJae's face which made the small elf look even cuter (at least in DongHae's opinion).

"I'll take care of you from now on. Would that be OK for you? You would never have to be hungry ever again", offered the dark-haired which caused the elf to stop eating. Thoughtfully looked HyukJae at DongHae and then shook his head vigorously.
"I don't need any help. Especially not from a fledgling like you. I am a royal elf warrior. One of the youngest at that, I have to say", HyukJae said defiantly and bit vigorously in a noodle shortly after. DongHae raised an eyebrow and smiled amused.

"Warrior? You? That almost sounds as if you were coming straight from a battlefield", DongHae said and laughed loudly. He didn't notice how HyukJae's facial expression suddenly darkened. As if he had lost his appetite he put the half eaten noodle back on the plate. Only when the author turned back to keep the conversation going, he recognized the change of mood his words had caused.

"I'm …"
"Sorry? You should be. Because of your kind I lost my home, my family and my best friend. We were banished from our world and ended up in this one. A world without magic and without faith in what you human call the supernatural. We die because people don't believe in our existence. Maybe... Maybe I'm the last of my kind", HyukJae sadly said and sat on the wool blanket with his back to the pillow.

DongHae looked pensively down to the elf. Slowly, he reached out his hand and carefully put HyukJae on his palm to lift him up so he could look the other in the eye. The petite elf didn't protest as the young author placed him on his palm and looked down sadly.
"If that really is so, wouldn't it be better to let me help you? Aren't you tired of being alone? I would like to be your friend and would love to learn more about your kind and your world. I believe that elves exist. I always have", DongHae said while constantly looking at HyukJae. The elf glanced up at him, but once their eyes met he once again fixed his gaze on DongHae's hand.

"You're a really strange human being. I hope you know that", DongHae heard his new found friend muttered and began to grin like a Cheshire cat.

***********************

A pleasant smell of hay and moss reached DongHae's nostrils. With pleasure, he kept his eyes closed to enjoy the fragrant smell even more that was surrounding him. Pleasantly he snuggled his head deeper into his pillow with led him closer to the source of that good odour. Dozily he moved closer to the amazing thing and buried his nose in it. Only after a few minutes had passed decided DongHae to open his eyes and start his day. When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was... blue hair.

Confused moved DongHae from that thing, or rather, the person and took a look at that someone that was laying next to him. Beside him slept a man. The stranger appeared to be about the same size and the same age like him. The latter was difficult to determine because of the obviously dyed hair but DongHae had the feeling that they must be the same age.

The eyes of the author wandered over the stranger's face. He was sure to have never met this person before and yet this man seemed so incredibly familiar. Only when his eyes fell on the pointy ears of the man, the author recalled the elf he had found yesterday.

Hastily turned DongHae around to take a look at the tile stove. The pillow, which had served as the elf's bed was deserted. Once again DongHae turned to the stranger in his bed and now he recognized the same facial features that he had previously seen on the elf's face the day before. How could that be? Did HyukJae grown tall overnight? Was this really HyukJae? He had to know it.

Reluctantly, he raised his right hand and gently nudged the man next to him. In a low voice called DongHae HyukJae's name, but neither the man nor anyone else replied. Grumbling edged HyukJae closer and grimaced because of the sudden noise. Happily sighted the blue-haired and nuzzled his head against DongHae's chest. The elf's hands went to the hem of the sweater DongHae wore to sleep in and clutched onto it. The fingers of his hands roamed DongHae's skin which made the dark haired shiver briefly.

Again said the young author the name of the elf. The man responded to the sound of his name by nuzzling himself even closer to DongHae. However, he showed no sign of waking up.
The dark-haired smiled softly and gently wrapped his arm around the young man beside him. His hand found the head of elves and gently his hair. Never had DongHae touched such fine hair. Blissfully sighed the elf. He sure seemed to enjoy the gentle touch as he slightly pressed his head closer to the petting hand. An amused smile appeared on DongHae's face as this was a behaviour he only had witnessed cats do when they were petted.

DongHae gently touched HyukJae's cheek with the back of the other hand. The skin of the other felt cold. Not as cold as it had been the day before in the woods but still cold. Worried touched DongHae the elf's arm. Even his arms were cold. The young author noticed that the elf wasn't just not wearing anything at all but he also wasn't fully covered with the blanket they shared. Why in heaven's name was HyukJae ?

Nevertheless must something be done to warm the young elf up again. Gently pulled DongHae the cold person next to him closer and wrapped his warm blanket tighter around himself and his new friend. Visibly pleased with the newly found source of heat scooted HyukJae closer which made the young author blush madly.

More than just being a bit embarrassed, he put an arm around the waist of the other and lightly patted the others back. His skin felt soft and smooth under his fingers. Gently, he leaned his head on HyukJae's. The smell of hay and moss reached his nostrils again. A soft smile crept onto his face. It felt right to hold him in his arms.
DongHae's eyelids suddenly felt heavy and not soon after they fell shut. All he wanted at that moment was enjoying this moment. This fragrance. This feeling.

"Oh my goodness!"

The young author had barely closed his eyes when he heard the loud voice of one of his friends behind him. He quickly turned around and saw RyeoWook standing in the now open doorway. With shock filled eyes he looked back and forth between DongHae and HyukJae. It seemed as if RyeoWook wanted to say something as he opened his mouth, but not a single word left his lips.

Hastily grabbed the youngest the doorknob and slammed the door with a loud bang shut behind him. HyukJae winced and made a few disapproving noises before he snuggled even closer to DongHae once again. The young author was about to free himself from the grip of the elf as the door went open again.

"That... How? Oh my God! He is !", RyeoWook cried, who had apparently decided to enter a second time to wake DongHae up. DongHae tried to silence the younger with a long sh sound as he didn't want to wake HyukJae up, but after RyeoWook's last appearance he awoke from his slumber. With tiered eyes looked the elf up at RyeoWook. His face looked spiritless and dozy.

HyukJae slowly straightened up and yawned and stretched himself a bit which caused the blanket to slip away from his body. Sadly this made everyone in the room see more than they should have. RyeoWook's mouth had fallen open in shock. A fine red veil appeared on his face. However, he wasn't able to avert his eyes from HyukJae right away. It took five long minutes until the younger found his language again.

"Hyung, who is that?", he asked while forcing to turn his gaze away from HyukJae. The young author turned around to face HyukJae as if he was hoping that the elf would help him out and make up a believable story. The elf, however, wasn't much of a help. Completely oblivious to the scene he yawned once again and it seemed as if he would fall asleep again every second now. This whole situation didn't seem to bother him at all.

The oldest of the group, HeeChul, just past by his room. Completely disinterested, he glanced into the room and walked past it. However, only a few seconds later he came back and stared with a surprised expression at HyukJae.

"That's ... You know that guy from my last birthday party? Well... this is him. That's HyukJae", DongHae lied. A better excuse didn't come to his mind at that moment. He just hoped that the younger would buy his lie.
HyukJae, who had just heard his name, straightened up and looked in a confused state of mind at DongHae. However, the meaning of the just spoken words seemed not quite get to him.

HeeChul looked at HyukJae with critical eyes and then began to grin widely.

"You lucky bastard! That's the reason why you wanted to go to Switzerland all by yourself. You wanted to have some special time with your secret lover. Ha! Caught in the act!", HeeChul triumphantly said while throwing his arms in the air to celebrate his success by discovering a secret.

DongHae was about to say something but RyeoWook beat him to it.
"Anyway. Get dressed and come down. Breakfast is ready", the youngest said, and rushed out of the room.
HeeChul frowned briefly and it seemed almost as if he wanted to argue with the younger, but the prospect of some food was too tempting. Hastily he followed RyeoWook without saying another word. Just when the oldest had turned around the corner, he came back again and threw DongHae a meaningful look. This look on the older's face didn't mean anything good. Shortly afterwards disappeared HeeChul again.

The young author sighed. This is going to be a long day!

**********************

DongHae plopped down on the wooden bench in front of the chalet and sighted. It was already evening. Throughout the day he had alternately been questioned by HeeChul and RyeoWook. Both seemed to have a strong interest in the relationship he had with HyukJae. Only KyuHyun appeared to be less interested in that matter. His attention was on his spare battery for his laptop, which seemed to have slowly but surely lost it's precious power.

Originally had the four friends wanted to spend this night together to celebrate the new year in the near by village. However, after the day came to it's close, all DongHae wanted to do was rest. Reluctantly had his friends accepted his will and took the large SUV to drive down the mountain to get to the village. Only when DongHae saw the cars tail lights disappear in the forest, he was finally able to relax.

Exhausted leaned DongHae backwards so that his back rested on the cold wooden wall of the chalet. He slowly closed his eyes and listened to the wind that was blowing gently through the branches and twigs of the trees and the occasional noises of the forest animals. Satisfied smiled the young author while he slowly breathed the fresh air in and out. It was when he opened his eyes again when he noticed that someone had sat down on the bench next to him. It was HyukJae.

Spellbound stared the elf up in the dark night sky. The sky was clear which allowed them to take a look at the billion and billion of stars that greeted them. HyukJae's gaze wandered from one star to the next. A soft smile appeared on his face.
"Beautiful, isn't it?", DongHae asked the blue-haired elves in a soft tone of voice and looked up at the stars too. HyukJae nodded curtly and kept starring at the bright points in the sky.

"It's up there. Somewhere" HyukJae suddenly said when his eyes fell on one of the brightest stars in the sky.
"Your home?" DongHae asked, although he already knew the answer.
The elf smiled sadly and nodded. For a short while they kept silent. DongHae had so many questions but when he saw the abstractedly expression on HyukJae's face he decided to save them for another time. Instead of asking his questions, he decided to watch the young elf and let his eyes rest on his face. The elf's face seemed almost immaculately in the moonlight and the little lantern that was spending them it's light next to the front door. Especially the eyes of the young elf looked absolutely beautiful right now. A gentle sparkle was visible in them. DongHae was certain that he had never seen such beautiful eyes before.

With a gentle but sad smile turned HyukJae to DongHae.
"I think you would like Astrin. It's a place full of magic and wonderful landscapes. I come from a small valley near the mountains where the dragons live. The sun is warm and isn't as dangerous as the sun here. Its rays conjures the most beautiful pictures in the nearby river",HyukJae told with an honest smile on his face. With every word he told his new found friend he seemed to become happier

“Do you miss your home?", the dark-haired asked cautiously and instantly saw how the expression on the elf's face started to darken again.
After a while he nodded weakly.
"I sure do but unfortunately it's no longer my home. Even if I would find a way to get back, it would not be the same. My family and friends aren't waiting for me there. I would be alone"
DongHae grabbed HyukJae's hands and held them firmly between his. He looked resolutely into HyukJae's eyes and gave him a warm smile.

"You're not alone anymore. I want to be there for you. I want to be with you", he said determinately which made the elf snort shortly before he freed his hands from DongHae's grip.

"You sure are a strange man", he muttered as he looked up to the stars. However, soon after he lowered his gaze again. Shyly he flashed DongHae a glance. The lips of the elf were moving slightly as if he was saying something. If the wind wouldn't have been so kind to carry those softly spoken words of his friend he might would have never heard them. The young elf had just said that he would like to stay with him.
DongHae's heart began to beat faster when he heard the simple 'I would love to' of the other. Those words made a happy smile appear on his face. HyukJae, who must have noticed that the other had heard what he just said started to feel embarrassed and looked away.

"You still haven't told me how you were able to become so tall over night. Did you use some kind of magic while I was sleeping?", DongHae asked who couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.
HyukJae pursed his lips briefly and seemed to think of what he wanted to tell the young author. Finally he nodded and looked DongHae straight in the eye.

"We elves can change our appearance until we reach our four-hundredth birthday. Either we take on a human like form or we keep our original form. When we first met I was in my original form. I've never changed my appearance before through. I had no clothes so... But today...", the blue-haired began. When he didn't show the slightest inclination to continue talking, became DongHae impatient.
"What happened last night? Why did you change your form?", he asked which made a slight hint of red appear on HyukJae's face. The latter sheepishly slipped back and forth before he answered softly.

"You've almost crushed me. I was too small "
The young author blinked. He could still remember how they had been sitting and talking together on the tile stove before they decided to call it a day. When he got into his own bed he could have sworn that the elf was resting on the pillow on the tile stove as this was the warmest place in the whole room. However, he couldn't remember to have done something to harm the elves after he got to bed.

"Weren't you laying on your pillow when I fell asleep? How could I crush you when I was in my bed and you were in yours? Did I sleep walk?", he asked anxiously but the elf shook his head violently. Shyly he looked away before he softly said that he had been cold. Confused blinked the dark-haired man. The tile stove had been quite hot when they went to bed. The stove was still pleasantly warm in the morning when he was cleaning it. How could the elf have had cold?

The young author was about to ask another question in this matter but the elf beat him to it.
"I was cold! That's it!", he exclaimed and defiantly crossed his arms over his chest. DongHae began to smile at the sight, but nodded as he had to admit that he wouldn't be able to find out why exactly the elves had decided to lay next to him last night. It was just to hope that the elf would tell him soon as he sure was curious now.

"Do you want to see something that's absolutely amazing?", the elf suddenly asked. The excitement was written all over HyukJae's face as his eyes began to light up. DongHae smiled and nodded eagerly. HyukJae seemed visibly pleased by that answer and held out his hands against the sky. A few words in a foreign language were muttered before HyukJae once again turned to the young author with a broad smile on his face.

With raised eyebrows looked DongHae around. Nothing seemed to have changed. With a questioning expression he looked at HyukJae. He was about to open his mouth and say something but the elf once again beat him to it.
"Soon" he said and waited patiently for something to appear or happen.
Another minute had passed since HyukJae's 'soon' and nothing had happened yet. He was about to start talking again, when he suddenly felt something cold on his nose. Confused blinked the young author and looked towards the sky.

Thick white flakes of snow flew through the sky. Slowly, they floated towards the ground where they landed and finally melted into small droplets of water. Joyful stretched DongHae his hands out and caught some of the flakes.

"It's snowing!", he exclaimed incredulously. Throughout his stay in Switzerland he hadn't been able to see snow. The weather had been too hot for that. It seemed like a miracle that on New Year's Eve it finally had started to snow. Or was this the elf's doing?

Curiously turned DongHae to HyukJae. The later had a satisfied smile on his face as he watched how the snowflakes started to dance in the small breeze and eventually found their way to the ground. When he noticed that DongHae was looking at him, he turned his attention to the man beside him and send him a wide smile.

"That was you, wasn't it?" DongHae asked and HyukJae began to nod.
"That was me. It's all thanks to you. If you hadn't rescued me and you wouldn't believe the things that most people refer to as chimeras, I wouldn't be here. Despite that, making snow isn't much of a big deal for a water elf like me. Do you like it?", HyukJae asked and looked at the author with hopeful eyes.

DongHae grinned, leaned forward and pulled HyukJae into a tight hug. The young elf seemed a bit perplex at first, but after a while he wrapped his arms around the other and enjoyed the warmth the other was giving him. Gently, he put his head on DongHae's shoulder and closed his eyes briefly.

A loud bang sound made the elf suddenly spin around in shock.
Over the small mountain village appeared a large coloured circle in the sky. Astonished watched HyukJae how the colours quickly faded and gave way for another new bang that made even more beautiful colours appear. HyukJae was so fascinated by the spectacle that he didn't notice that DongHae had scooted closer to him.

"Happy New Year", DongHae said quietly and finally embraced the elf again. Without much hesitation welcomed HyukJae the embrace and enjoyed that tingling feeling that DongHae triggers in him. DongHae was special. Special to him.